Article 74 of the Constitution provides that Parliament shall at the first sitting after any general election elect, from among its members, a Speaker. The Rules of Procedure of Parliament (ROP) framed and adopted by Parliament to conduct its business in pursuance of Article 75(1) of the Constitution have laid down detailed procedure on the election of the Speaker. Rule 8 has prescribed the procedure for the election of a Speaker by Parliament at its first meeting after a general election. The substance of the procedure is that any member of Parliament (MP) may give notice in writing addressed to Secretary of Parliament proposing another MP to be chosen as the Speaker subject to the conditions that the notice shall be seconded by a third MP and the MP whose name is proposed, expresses in writing his willingness to serve as a Speaker, if elected. The motions which have been moved and duly seconded shall be put one by one in order in which they have been moved, and decided, if necessary, by division. If one motion is carried, the presiding officer shall, without putting the other motions, declare that the MP, proposed in the motion which has been carried, has been elected as the Speaker.

The procedure prescribed in rule 8 for the election of the Speaker shall apply, mutasis mutandis, for the election of the Deputy Speaker.

Article 74 (2) of the Constitution mentions a number of circumstances when the Speaker shall vacate his office. One of the circumstances is the passage of a resolution supported by the votes of a majority of all the members of Parliament, requiring the Speaker's removal from office.

The powers and functions entrusted to the Speaker by the Constitution and the ROP may be summed up as follows: (1) presiding over the sittings of Parliament; (2) regulating the proceedings of Parliament under the ROP; (3) certifying a Bill as a Money Bill; (4) maintaining discipline and order in Parliament; (5) chairing meetings of certain parliamentary committees such as, Business Advisory Committee, Committee on Privileges, Committee on Petitions, Committee on Rules of Procedures; (6) acting as a channel of communications between the President and the House and vice versa; (7) acting as the President of Bangladesh in the absence of the President.

Let us have a look into Parliament of the countries that have a long tradition of parliamentary democracy. Britain is known as the birthplace of parliamentary democracy. Power and position of the Speaker of the House of Commons in Britain are mainly based on customs and usages. A constitutional expert writes, "In England the Speaker becomes a non-party man after his election and does not participate in politics nor does express an opinion on political problems. He is, accordingly, recognised as the non-partisan and impartial custodian of the rights of the members on the Treasury benches or in the opposition." Mentionable that the British Parliament consisting of the King (or the Queen), and two Houses namely, the House of Lords and the House of Commons, has the built-in mechanism of checks and balances.

India has a long tradition of parliamentary democracy. The procedure for the election of the Speaker of Lok Sabha (the House of People) in India is more or less similar to the election of the Speaker of Parliament in Bangladesh. But the point that has to be noted is that, Parliament of India consists of the President and two Houses i.e. the Council of States and the House of People. So, there are checks and balances. But Bangladesh has a unicameral legislature and the President is not a part of Parliament.

Some of the important allegations leveled against Speaker in the past as well as at present are:

Lack of neutrality : As the guardian of Parliament, the Speaker's behaviour has not been neutral. He has always acted in the interest of the ruling party that nominated him for the office of the Speaker. The opposition parties, in particular the main opposition party, have not been allowed required time to speak even on important national issues. Even there are instances of switching off the microphone of the Leader of the Opposition in the House.

Not allowing the notices, etc. of the opposition : The main opposition party members' notices relating to matters of general public interest and notices relating to matters of urgent public importance, etc. have, in many cases, been disallowed by the Speaker.

Repeated quorum crises in the House: In recent times, there have been repeated quorum crises in Parliament. Tansparency International Bangladesh (TIB) in its recent report titled Parliament Watch based on proceedings of the 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th sessions of the current i.e. 8th Parliament held last year has revealed, among other, that (a) the above sessions witnessed severe quorum crisis almost every day; (b) of the Tk 22.11 crore spent to run the four sessions of House last year, more than Tk 5 crore had been wasted due to quorum crises alone. A Bangla Daily (The Daily Jugantor) of March 17 carried a news item which revealed that in the recently prorogued first session of 2005 (15th session of the 8th Parliament) sittings started without quorum on 16 days against 22 working days. This has happened when the ruling alliance commands more than two-thirds of the total seats of Parliament. The repeated quorum crises speak of the Speaker's inability to run the House smoothly.

Appointing no MP of main opposition as chairman in parliamentary committees: No lawmaker of the main opposition party has been appointed chairman in any parliamentary standing committee. This has adversely affected active participation of the main opposition party members in the parliamentary committees. As the custodian of the rights of the MPs, the Speaker has not been able to protect the rights of the main opposition party MPs in this case.

Failure to prevent the executive organ from violating the provision of ROP : In March last, the law minister asked the ruling BNP lawmakers in writing to take permission of the Leader of the House or the party's parliamentary wing before placing a private member's bill in Parliament. Sensing that the instruction was not compatible with the ROP, the Speaker requested the law minister to sit with the BNP lawmakers to resolve the issue. But the government in the law ministry has stood by its decision. This amounts to the Speaker's failure to protect the rights of the legislators from the dictation of the executive.

Main opposition party not persuaded to attend parliament session: During the last twelve-plus years, the Speaker has not taken any serious initiative to end the parliament boycott by the main opposition party MPs assuring them that their genuine grievances pertaining to the conduct of business in the House or its precincts would be removed. So, parliament has remained largely ineffective since the early nineties.

Now the question is whether the existing powers and position of the Speaker enable him to take steps to make parliament effective. First, a close look into the procedure of the election of the Speaker reveals that only the MP who is proposed and seconded by the majority party in Parliament is sure to be elected as the Speaker.

Second, the Speaker's position is not very well secured. According to Article 74 (2) (c) of the Constitution, the Speaker may be removed by Parliament by the votes of a majority of all the MPs. This means that the Speaker's continuation in his office depends to a great extent on his allegiance to the party in power.

Third, the Speaker's neutrality in the discharge of his functions and responsibilities in Parliament may incur the displeasure of the Prime Minister and other high-ups of the party in power. He may not get party ticket to contest the next parliamentary election. So, he stands a chance to lose his parliamentary seat in his constituency.

In order to enable the Speaker to his exercise his powers effectively and discharge his functions neutrally, the following suggestions are made for consideration of all concerned.

- No MP who is below 65 years of age would be eligible for election to the office of the Speaker.

- The Speaker shall cease to be a member of the party which nominated him for election as the Speaker.

- Unless he resigns, dies, or removed from his office by Parliament, the Speaker shall hold office for two consecutive full terms of five-year each from the date on which he first entered upon his office. The change in government after a general election will not affect him to continue as the Speaker for the second full term.

- The Speaker can be removed by a resolution supported by the votes of not less than two-thirds of the total members of Parliament.

- On completion of full two consecutive terms as the Speaker, he will not be eligible to contest any general election or by-election as the candidate of a political party or as an independent candidate.

To conclude, a powerful and neutral Speaker can help make Parliament effective. The confrontational politics of the two major political parties has made Parliament largely ineffective. The people are worried about the fate of the nascent democracy in the country. A vibrant and effective Parliament under the leadership of a powerful and neutral Speaker can make invaluable contribution to the functioning of the democratic system in the country.

M. Abdul Latif Mondal is a former Secretary to government